Freight-cab



K. R. KOSKINEN. FREIGHT CAR DOOR.

APPLlbATION FILED OCT. 24. 1916 1,308,955.

Patented July 8, 1919. I

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K. R. KOSKINEN. FREIGHT CAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED OCT. 24. I916.

Patented July 8, 1919.

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afforueq- OFFICE.

'KUSTAA R. KOSKINEN, F DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

FREIGHT-CAIR- DOOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 8, 1919.

Application filed October 24, 1916. Serial No. 127,436.

To all whom it may concern:

.which the following is a part is designated by Be it known that I, KUs'rAA R. KosKINEN, a subject of the Czar of Russia, residing at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and State of Minnesota, have invented new anduseful Improvements in Freight-Car Doors, of

specification.

My invention relates to a grain door for freight cars and the like and has as its principal object the provision of an inexpensive door construction which may be appliedto ordinary box cars in order to enable such types of cars to carry grain and other relatively finely divided material.

A second object of my invention is to provide means for easily locking and unlocking the door when installed on the car. A third object of my invention is to novide a door which may be readily folde up and placed in an out of the way position when not in use.

A final object of my invention resides in the particular arrangement and combination of parts hereinafter described.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevational view of a door embodying my invention showing the same as installed on a box car, said figure being taken from the exterior of the car.

- Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a. central vertical section of the door shown in Fig. 1 in the closed and locked position.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the door unlocked and partly open and folded. I

Fig.- 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 but showing the door entirely folded in full lines; the position of the folded door when swung out of the way is shown in this figure in dotted lines.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the upper portion of the door and supports therefor taken from the interior of the car.

Fig. 7 is a detailed perspective view of one of the latches used in holding the door in folded position.

Throughout the separate views. the same the same reference character.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 is the body of a freight car of the box type. As shown in Fig. 6, I mount above the door opening in such a car a pair of brackets such as 2. Through the brackets 9. I pass a rod 3 from which the door is strips 11 are on the strips 11 are I only the road company,

swung by means of twisted iron straps 4 which are fixed to the upper leaf 5 of the door and continued around the same to form a strengthening framework. An additional iron strap 6 is provided, connecting the upper ends of the straps 4 to further strengthen the upper leaf of the door and to prevent the straps 4 from spreading. The straps 4 are loose on the rod 3, and I provide a spring 7 which is fixed to the rod 3 at one end and is coiled about the same, the other end of the spring being fixed to one of the straps 4 as shown at 8 in Fig. 6 for a purpose which will be more clearly explained hereafter.

At each side of the doorway are posts such as 9, (see Figs. 1 and 2) and hinged to the posts 9 are two pairs of rectangular locking strips, the upper pair of strips-being desig nated as 1010 and .the lower pair of strips being designated as 11-11. These strips run the entire length of the door and' are so hinged as to swing inwardly with one of their edges against the outer face of the door. These strips, at their point of meeting near the lowerend of the door are provided with overlapping projections such as 12 which meet in corresponding recesses in the ad acent strips and the projections of the the outside, so that when turned inwardly as shown in Fig. 1 and a bottom locking strip 14 of rectangular cross section is swung in between the strips 11-11, the door is locked shut. The stri 14 is hinged in position to a door sill 13 an is shown in both locking and released position in cross section in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. The strips 10 and 11 are provided with handles whereby they can be swung into and out of locking position, but the strip 14 has no handle, a punch provided which runs through the sill 13,

lower end of the rod 15 being exposed when the door. is locked. Consequently, a person not knowing the construction of the door, as would probably be the case with anyone not employedby the railwould not be able to open the door even though it had no other locking means than the strips just described.

It will beseen that the upper leaf 5 of the door is mounted to swing inwardly, but suspended from the lower edge of the leaf 5 are three additional leaves which are hinged to fold together in accordion fashion as shown in Fig. 5. the third leaf from the top being hinged to the one next to the top by hinges on the inner face of the. leaves and the rod 15 being fourth leaf from the top, which is the lowest leaf, being hinged to swing outwardly on the leaf next above it. However, I provide a metal plate such as 16 within the doorway on each side thereof, and each of the plates 16 have a flange such as 17 extending inwardly on the inner edge thereof so that the leaves below the top one are prevented from swinging inwardly until they have been folded in the position shown in Fig. 5. It will be seen that the second leaf from the top is designated as 18, the third leaf from the top as 19 and the bottom leaf as 20. The leaf 19 is provided with a latch 21 so that it catches the lower edge of the leaf 20 when the same is swung upwardly as is clearly shown in Fig. 4. In folding up the door, the leaves 18 and 19 are then swung forwardly and upwardly and the leaf 19 may then be secured by a latch 22 carried by the upper edge of the leaf 5. Thus the door is held in the position shown" in Fig. 5, the outer face of the door having a metal sheeting such as 23, and I permit this sheeting to extend somewhat beyond the lower edge of the leaf 18 so that it may be held by the latch 22, when leaf 18 has been thrown up into the position as shown in Fig. 5. When the door is in locked position, the leaves 18, 19 and 20 are prevented from being pushed inwardly by the flange 17, and I provide latches such as 24 for holding the top leaf 5 from being pushed inwardly when this is not desired.

The top leaf 5 and the bottom leaf'20 both are provided with doors for purposes of inspection and examining, the door in leaf 5 being designated as 25 and the same is hinged at the upper portion of the leaf 5 as clearly shown in Fig. 1. A bolt 26 is provided for holding the door 25 in closed position. The door in the bottom leaf 20 is designated as 2'? and is arranged to slide in a horizontal guide such as 28 as is clearly shown in F 1g. 1.

mosses From the foregoing details. and description, it will be readily understood that when it is desired to open the door from the position shown in Figs. 1 and 3, the bolt 15 is first pushed upwardly so as to lift the bottom locking strip 14 which is then swung outwardly as indicated in Figs. 4 and 5. The locking strips at the side of. the door 10 and 11 are then swung outwardly by means of handles such as 29 and the leaf 2O swung up so as to be held by the catch 21. The leaves 18 and 19 are then swung up so as to be held by the catch 22, the top leaf 5 in the meantime being held by the catches 21 so that it will not swing inwardly when the other leaves are pressed against it. The upper catches 24 are then turned outwardly s0 as to permit the upper leaf 5 to be swung, if so desired, into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, in which position the inner end of the door structure may be sup orted from the roof of the car (not shown by a lIIPOOk or catch such as 30, shown in detail in Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

A freight car door including adoor frame, a door comprising a number of panels hingedly connected together, a shaft secured to the framework above the door, bearing members attached to the upper panel of the door and engaging such shaft, a spring mounted upon said shaft and engaging the bearing members to swing the uppermost panel upwardly, and guides secured to the edges of the door frame terminating at a point below the 'oint between the upper and lower panels w perform its function until after the lower panels have been folded against the upper panel so that the guides will be cleared during such swinging motion.

KUSTAA R. KOSKINEN.

ereby the spring will not 

